Book 5: "Chart Throb" by Ben Elton

[kittiwake]

I would recommend this book to any reality television fans whose illusions won't be shattered by the amount of behind-the-scenes manipulation in this X Factor satire. If you really believe that the X Factor is a talent contest which the best singer will win, you may like to skip this book, especially if you see Sharon Osbourne as a lovely motherly person who hates to send any of the contestants home. Although Ben Elton has made the female judge on the Chart Throb panel a transsexual ex-rock star with a drug-addled wife and twin step-daughters who like to annoy her by calling her Dad instead of Mum, Beryl's mannerisms and comments to the contestants are totally Sharon Osbourne.

I wouldn’t say that this is one of Ben Elton's best books, as it was repetitive and the story dragged at times, but I found it very funny and didn’t spot the final twist coming at all.